I confess

Neet asked me last week about the Old Boys Weekend.

So ape activity kat sana nanti?

Man, that is one hard question to answer.. Sure, there are activities there: the footie match, the rugby match, the souvenir booths, the gerais.. but none of that was ever the reason to justify going back down that highway to Kuala Kangsar. I told her that I'm going for my friends, everything else is collateral.

On the way back I was in the car with Bebeh. He was driving, I was tired. I asked him:

Well, the thing both of us agreed with was that it's not the school that you should be in love with. Not the grand old buildings nor the stout old tree. It's the people. Without the people the buildings are just that. We give meaning to it. We give it life. We are The Malay College, everything else is collateral.

Somehow it reminded me of a quote I read back in 2001

At the end of the day, the empire stood alone over the horizon, ruling over the emptiness within

There were only 9 of us but we are friends. We give meaning to the buildings and the fields. As long as we are friends, it will always be meaningful. And we've all agreed, brotherhood lasts forever. Even death won't tear us apart.

Thank you Alep, Hariri, Zamir, Bebeh, Gon, Pijie, Chye and Syamil. It was a great weekend. Thank you to Neet for understanding. I love you all.